Lincoln Park Invites Audiences To Attend The Tale Of SWEENEY TODD In Cutting-Edge New Production

The Tony Award-winning musical thriller "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" will open Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center's 2018-2019 Highmark Blue Cross / Blue Shield Subscription Series in a production its creative team is calling a "technical marvel."

The show will run three weekends, October 5-7, 12-14, and 19-21. Tickets are available online at www.lincolnparkarts.org/events, or by calling the Lincoln Park Box office at (724) 576-4644.

"Sweeney Todd" is the kind of show you can rely upon to serve up a truly enjoyable evening or afternoon of live theater," says Justin Fortunato, producing artistic director.

"It has what every great thriller offers: action, suspense, humor, and some of the greatest music ever created for the Broadway stage."

A story of revenge and murder fueled by love, betrayal and resentment, the original Broadway production of "Sweeney Todd" redefined the established ideas and common themes in musical theater.

Created by legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim with a book by Hugh Wheeler, and based on an adaptation by Christopher Bond, the show is the winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical.

A 2007 film version directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp took home a Golden Globe for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy.

The show tells the tale of Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber who returns to nineteenth century London seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which, he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett's luck sharply shifts when Todd's thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up... and the carnage has only just begun!

Fortunato says the show is another in the Lincoln Park tradition of presenting shows at the "cutting edge" of contemporary stagecraft.

"The mechanics of the dastardly business that Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney think up creates ample opportunity for stage magic," Fortunato says.

"From a barber shop that rotates through space and time, to a built-in elevator rising from the depths of the earth, to bodies descending into the depths of the bake house, this show will have audiences asking 'how did they do that?' over and over again."

Bringing the tale to life is a 43-person cast that features some of the best and most energetic young talent the region has to offer. The cast includes Lincoln Park junior Noah Pleunik of Washington, PA, as Sweeney Todd, and junior Lucia Williams of Presto, as Mrs. Lovett.

The show also features Pittsburgh favorite Jeff Howell as Judge Turpin, and Pittsburgh residents Joe York (Beadle Bamford) and Connor Bahr (Pirelli).

Lincoln Park is also extending the theatrical experience to its atrium. In addition to upgrades and improvements to its concessions in the newly-named Park Café, a working replica of Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop has been constructed in the Center's BlackBox theater, and will serve up tasty pies from Pittsburgh's Prohibition Pastries, along with beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages.

"We know people today have a lot of different options for how to spend their time and money, whether it's an evening out or an evening in," Fortunato says.

"We want to serve up an experience that pushes at the boundaries of what's possible in live entertainment, much in the same way we have pushed at the boundaries in education. This production makes several strides in that direction."

"Sweeney Todd" is presented as part of "You're Home," Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center's 2018-2019 Highmark Blue Cross / Blue Shield Subscription Series. The region's premier arts-and-education destination, Lincoln Park is located in a beautiful park setting in Midland (Beaver County) Pennsylvania. The Center is home to the renowned Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, and creates authentic, real-world learning opportunities for young people by offering high-quality, professionally-produced musicals, plays, concerts, ballets, readings, and exhibits for patrons of all ages. For more information, visit www.LincolnParkArts.org.

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